In-season Trail Camera Strategy

[jwilkstn]

Like many here, I have mostly deployed my trail cams for season-long intelligence in a spot. Sometimes I set them before the season starts and other times I'll set one in an area after a hunt and let it soak the remainder of the season. This has been very enlightening for me, with some patterns developed and a better understanding of how and when travel corridors are used.

Recently, however, I've been thinking about how to utilize cameras to locate, stay on, and kill bucks. Perhaps even a particular buck. It seems to me that several guys here who use cameras for this are placing them outside bedding areas and using them to monitor when a target buck is using that bed (or bedding area). Dan and Mario in particular have been doing this in recent years, and I know I've read from others that seem to be similar.

For those who take this or a similar approach, let's dive in with the details of your strategy and examine what makes it work for you. How close to bedding do you typically place cams? How often do you think you can get away with checking a camera and what factors influence that? How much weight do you place on pics vs fresh sign in the area? Are you using cameras only on pre-scouted bedding from months or year's prior, or areas you locate in-season? What other tips would you offer?

[Elite]

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For those who take this or a similar approach, let's dive in with the details of your strategy and examine what makes it work for you. How close to bedding do you typically place cams? How often do you think you can get away with checking a camera and what factors influence that? How much weight do you place on pics vs fresh sign in the area? Are you using cameras only on pre-scouted bedding from months or year's prior, or areas you locate in-season? What other tips would you offer?

Ive been doing this for years with good success. Essentially what you need to do is locate the trails coming out of bedding, and place cameras accordingly. The size, shape and location of the bedding area depends on how close u can get, and how many cameras to use. Every bedding area is somewhat different, especially if you know where they're heading at night. For example, if the bedding is next to an ag field, your smartest approach is to put cams on the fringes and check them midday. The closer you get to the bedding and frequency of checking cams has a direct impact on how educated the deer are going to become. The is no exact distance. It's about getting close but not too close...
One helpful tip would be to only check cameras when the wind is blowing out of the bedding. I TRY to check cameras every 5 days but with 13 cameras between 6 properties, it's impossible. I also I rely on my cameras during the season as my scouting is done spring and early summer. But I don't necessarily let the cameras dictate my hunting.

[Jdw]

IMO you need to find the right place to put a camera so that you can check it often enough to get the intel you need without effecting the bucks daylight movement.

If you already know the bedding in area it is much easier to make an educated guess on where you need to hunt when you get pictures on a walking trail or a night time food source.

[Lockdown]

Great topic. Cameras can be tremendously helpful, or hurtful depending on how you use them. I’ll chime in when I get time.

[dewayne]

Glad to see this thread. I’ve been hunting for years and decided today to buy my first trail cam. Looking forward to reading about how to strategically start placing them as I acquire a few more. I’m the mean time while I only have a couple what would your guys suggest on where to place them? I hunt on a military base so it gets a lot of pressure 24/7 by training and hunting.

I found a spot during turkey season that has some good sign and I’m convinced there is a good buck in the area. I was unable to locate a bedding area so what/where should I go from here with setting up my camera? A large majority of the sign was in a draw about 100 yards off of a fire break.

[DaveT1963]

What I often do is carry a camera with me during season. if I am hunting a spot and see a couple nice bucks that will be something good next year I will drop it right where I hunt and let it soak until late spring. Even if I decide to go back and hunt that area one more time - I will pull the card but leave the camera. 90% of my trail camera strategy is based off FUTURE hunting and not the here and now. I am either taking post/pre season inventory or validating my perceived movement patterns during season. I use post season foot scouting to determine where bedding is and where I will set up - the cameras just get me focused as to when and where they are moving during season. This is one of the reasons I do not rely on some common myths about big buck movement (moon, AM vs PM vs mid day, scrape usage, etc...) Occasionally I will find a stud in a new area i am not familiar with, then I will use cameras to walk back to isolate his bedding entry/exit for future use.

[jman22]

I run a lot of cameras during the season. The cameras I check in-season are usually on field edges over scrapes. I'm not hunting field edges, but if a nice buck shows up on camera at night on one of these scrapes I'll rely on past scouting knowledge/past trail cam pics and past hunting season knowledge to make a educated decision on where I'll be hunting.

Another location I use is on hedgerows/crop field edges that lead to road crossings. I'll put the cameras close to the road. Again, these cameras are easy to check and when a nice buck shows up on them I'll use past knowledge to try and piece things together. I have one camera I set up that is about 20 yards of the road in a random patch of woods that is no more than 1/8 of an acre. Every year there is a massive scrape here. The main bedding is only about 250 yards from this scrape. I'll use the scrape to monitor when the bucks are in the area, and then I'll dive in close to the bedding to hunt.

The only time I'll check cameras that are close to bedding or a terrain feature that has historically had lots of daytime buck movement is when I'm going in to hunt those locations.

I guess the main takeaway here is I mostly rely on past knowledge during the season when chasing bucks and use the in-season trail cameras as the icing on the cake.

[jwilkstn]

.

For those who take this or a similar approach, let's dive in with the details of your strategy and examine what makes it work for you. How close to bedding do you typically place cams? How often do you think you can get away with checking a camera and what factors influence that? How much weight do you place on pics vs fresh sign in the area? Are you using cameras only on pre-scouted bedding from months or year's prior, or areas you locate in-season? What other tips would you offer?

Ive been doing this for years with good success. Essentially what you need to do is locate the trails coming out of bedding, and place cameras accordingly. The size, shape and location of the bedding area depends on how close u can get, and how many cameras to use. Every bedding area is somewhat different, especially if you know where they're heading at night. For example, if the bedding is next to an ag field, your smartest approach is to put cams on the fringes and check them midday. The closer you get to the bedding and frequency of checking cams has a direct impact on how educated the deer are going to become. The is no exact distance. It's about getting close but not too close...
One helpful tip would be to only check cameras when the wind is blowing out of the bedding. I TRY to check cameras every 5 days but with 13 cameras between 6 properties, it's impossible. I also I rely on my cameras during the season as my scouting is done spring and early summer. But I don't necessarily let the cameras dictate my hunting.

This seems so obvious, but I'm betting alot of your average hunters aren't placing enough importance on this.

Are you taking a viewer of some type into the field with you to decide if you should hunt that spot immediately, or are you checking cams, leaving to review, then going back in to the area that is hot?

[DhD]

If you can afford it, a couple of cell cams can be a pretty handy tool for getting intel without having to get in there and leave scent.

[DhD]

If you can afford it, a couple of "email" cams can be a pretty handy tool for getting intel without having to get in there and leave scent.

[Elite]

.

For those who take this or a similar approach, let's dive in with the details of your strategy and examine what makes it work for you. How close to bedding do you typically place cams? How often do you think you can get away with checking a camera and what factors influence that? How much weight do you place on pics vs fresh sign in the area? Are you using cameras only on pre-scouted bedding from months or year's prior, or areas you locate in-season? What other tips would you offer?

Ive been doing this for years with good success. Essentially what you need to do is locate the trails coming out of bedding, and place cameras accordingly. The size, shape and location of the bedding area depends on how close u can get, and how many cameras to use. Every bedding area is somewhat different, especially if you know where they're heading at night. For example, if the bedding is next to an ag field, your smartest approach is to put cams on the fringes and check them midday. The closer you get to the bedding and frequency of checking cams has a direct impact on how educated the deer are going to become. The is no exact distance. It's about getting close but not too close...
One helpful tip would be to only check cameras when the wind is blowing out of the bedding. I TRY to check cameras every 5 days but with 13 cameras between 6 properties, it's impossible. I also I rely on my cameras during the season as my scouting is done spring and early summer. But I don't necessarily let the cameras dictate my hunting.

This seems so obvious, but I'm betting alot of your average hunters aren't placing enough importance on this.

Are you taking a viewer of some type into the field with you to decide if you should hunt that spot immediately, or are you checking cams, leaving to review, then going back in to the area that is hot?

I have "stealth cam " sd card reader that I bought at Walmart. It costs about $12. A lot of cameras are placed in spots that I can get too and then climb the tree. I often either view the cards in stand or right there.